the real reason the magazine industry is failing

Two issues of a particular car magazine appeared in our mailbox this past Thursday. This would be just fine, thrilling even, had we been expecting delivery of this magazine. We did not. We did however, purchase a 2 year subscription to this magazine for my auto loving Brother-in-law, as a Christmas present.

After getting confirmation that the intended recipient actually received his copies, SuperHubby called the magazine to remove us from the mailing list. You can't make up the kind of stupid found on the other end of that phone call, I swear.

When the situation had been explained, in detail, slowly, the customer service rep agreed to cancel our subscription and refund our money.
"Umm" said SuperHubby, "I don't want my money back, I bought the magazine for someone else."
"Oh, we'll just get yours cancelled and refund your money, sir." said the rep.
"Will the one I did order continue to be delivered?" asked SuperHubby.
"You don't want your magazine cancelled after all?" asked the rep.

This ball bounced back and forth a few times until SuperHubby asked to speak with a supervisor. There was none available to come to the phone. The rep assured SupperHubby that the situation was resolved to our satisfaction and that our refund would be completed within 7-10 business days. We didn't bother to ask, again, if the order we did place would continue to be delivered. It was too painful, the level of absurd.

I figure we'll end up purchasing a new, and different, magazine subscription within the next month.